Stonyhurst College is a co-educational Roman Catholic independent school, adhering to the Jesuit tradition, on the Stonyhurst Estate, Lancashire, England. It occupies a Grade I listed building. The school has been fully co-educational since 1999. A precursor institution of the college was founded in 1593 by Father Robert Persons SJ at St Omer, at a time when penal laws prohibited Roman Catholic education in England. After moving to Bruges in 1762 and Liège in 1773, the college was headed for oblivion, but for the generosity of an old boy, Thomas Weld (of Lulworth), who intervened. Weld's enormous benefaction enabled the expatriated school to establish itself on English soil in 1794 when it was granted the Stonyhurst estate. It provides boarding and day education to approximately 450 boys and girls aged 13–18. On an adjacent site, its preparatory school, St Mary's Hall, provides education for boys and girls aged 3–13. Source: Wikipedia (en)